Chemical found in popular sweet can help fight pancreatic cancer, study reveals

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) - a compound in liquorice - has proved to be effective in helping fight pancreatic cancer, a new study from Hong Kong Baptist University suggests.

The break through report could help scientists treat the "silent killer."

According to Cancer Research UK, it has one of the lowest 10-year survival rates of any cancer and only five per cent of people with the disease survive for more than a decade after diagnosis.

On Monday, researchers said ISL had lowered the survival rate of cancer cells in laboratory experiments on mice.

The study found that using a unit 30 milligrams per kilogramme of ISL on a tumour resulted in a reduction of around 500 cubic millimetres, which is around half of the size of the tumour in the control experiment.

Joshua Ko Ka-Shun, an associate professor at the university’s School of Chinese Medicine who led the study said: "This compound is worth considering for further development into a new generation of chemotherapy treatment.

"ISL possesses the unique property of inhibiting pancreatic cancer progression through the blockade of autophagy, which is a natural process where the body's cells clean out damaged or unnecessary components.

"The blockade of late-stage autophagy in our experiment results in cancer death."

Ko Ka-Shun is now hoping to work with partners in Europe and mainland China to set up tests in pancreatic cancer patients.

The expert has also warned people not to over-consume liquorice in response to the study's findings.

Common signs of pancreatic cancer include yellowing of the skin (jaundice) and bleeding in the stomach or intestine.

Other less commonly known signs, detailed in a University of Oxford study last year, are an increased sense of thirst and dark yellow urine.

Anyone who has lost a noticeable amount of weight or have other symptoms of pancreatic cancer that get worse or do not get better after two weeks should see their GP, according to the NHS.